Spotlight: Filippo
Filippo Varini interviewed by Sam McCabe
Filippo is a regular at our Wednesday community chats. Bringing an inquisitive mind and passion for solving climate-related problems, he has been a welcome addition to our NewAtlantis community. It was much to my surprise that his background and passions aligned so well with our own mission. His earnestness to help out in any way he can is recognized and appreciated by everyone. Not afraid to ask questions, Filippo has made our Wednesday mornings more productive for everyone, and I always look forward to seeing him in our Discord.
Where are you from originally and where are you now?
I am originally from Naples, Italy and I am currently living in London.
You mentioned to me earlier that you used to fish and sail when you were little growing up in Italy, how have those experiences with the ocean impacted you today?
All those experiences have made the ocean, the sea in my case, a big part of who I am and what I am passionate about. By having such a close relationship with the Ocean I have grown respectful of Nature’s immense power and excited about the unknown that hides beneath the spraying waves.
What are you currently studying?
I am currently studying Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning at Imperial College London.
How have past projects influenced what you want to do in the future?
I have carried out many projects that reflect my passion. I have collaborated on creating cdr.fyi, a platform for visualizing the progress of CO2 removal technologies. Furthermore, I am currently the Co-Chair of the Imperial Climate Entrepreneurs Club where we inspire and support our 300+ members to create or join ventures that address Climate Change. We just launched our own student accelerator and we are really excited about the steps ahead!
What was your experience like with starting the Imperial Climate Entrepreneurs Club?
I became Co-Chair of the Climate Entrepreneurs Club last year after it had been run for just one year. Despite it being a young club, we already had numerous members, reflecting the interest in the student community for climate change.
During our journey, we achieved many milestones like raising investment, hosting great speakers, and partnering with leading organizations! But the biggest of our achievements is the Climate Pre Accelerator, a startup accelerator we created to help students with a great idea to develop it during University. I am really proud of this event because it will increase the number of ventures addressing Climate, thus having a far bigger impact than I would be able to have by just starting my own company!
What do you hope to accomplish by connecting your passion for data science and machine learning with climate change?
Be happy.
I don’t have a specific goal like building unicorns or solving the world. My goal is to work on a problem I have fun solving with amazing people, and since I am passionate about nature and ML, I want to work on a problem that combines them both. In particular, I dream about using Machine Learning for ocean conservation because these are my true passions.
How would you explain to someone that doesn’t know anything about machine learning how it can help contribute to a climate solution?
The very reason why we fucked up the planet is that we were technologically immature. Imagine you are a farmer, it’s easier to spray your field with pesticides instead of tracking every single plant and predicting the best way to fight pests.
Now with Machine Learning, we have the possibility to bridge that gap. Coming back to our example, we can use image vision to recognize the pests, and combine that with weather information on a Neural Network to predict the strategy to fight pests biologically!
Beyond this example, Data Science gives us the ability to embrace the complexity and interconnectedness of nature, so it is the tool we can use to understand our natural world.
How did you find out about NewAtlantis?
I learned about NewAtlantis when I was working on the Open Earth foundation. By looking at your project, the first thing that struck me was the innovative approach. I wanted to learn about your technology and be part of your project!
What differentiates your community from others is its true openness. Ever since I joined, I’ve felt like I had been working on the project for months. I also received access to many resources to increase my knowledge on the topic!
Lastly, what is your favorite marine animal or any memorable experiences you’ve had in the ocean?
Octopus, because of its intelligence.
My most memorable experience was sailing with dolphins. I was doing a regatta with a boat 2m long and dolphins were jumping close to my boat. That was exciting and I will always remember it!
You can connect with Filippo through his LinkedIn.
NewAtlantis seeks to address the twin challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss by aligning community, government, industry, and individual benefit with the improving ecological health of our oceans. Subscribe to our newsletter on our website, or join our Discord to learn more.
